Date: 03/19/2023

Number: 1

Raphy, our first year male Rufous hummingbird, who has overwintered with us since late October, is still here with us in NC. This photo was taken just a few days ago by our friend, Paul Nielson. You can really see all those pin feathers around his beak and throughout his neck area. He is looking good and appears to be healthy, strong, and ready for migration, just as soon as that internal instinctual switch turns on. His behavior over the last couple of weeks most definitely also suggests that he is pretty ready to go chase and attract Rufous females and any other males who get in his way. He has been incredibly vocal and his wing and tail feather vibrations are definitely adult male Rufous.

We've had another stretch of really cold nights here recently, with lows down to 23-28 degrees. After tonight, we're due for a warm up and temps are supposed to be in the 70s during the day by Thursday.

We will be out of town on vacation until Sunday afternoon, the 26th. We have friends maintaining Raphy's feeders, as well as all our other bird and critter feeders. While some of our winter birds have left on their journey north, others like Raphy, are still with us. It will be interesting to see if they are still there when we arrive home on Sunday or if they have decided to start their long migrations. We'll see and I'll keep you posted on our dear, sweet, little Raphy. :)

Kernersville, NC

Latitude: 36.1 Longitude: -80.1

Observed by: Sophie
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